Hello Friends, Family, and Fans;
A few years ago I started looking into getting diagnosed with ADHD and/or Autism.
Last year I was diagnosed by a quick online service with Inattentive ADHD. I found out afterward that most employers and insurance companies don’t accept the results of this sort of testing.
I decided that I wanted to know and got tested properly. As you can guess from the title I was diagnosed as Autistic. I’m considered level 1 which isn’t a cool RPG system but just means that I need little to no support in day to day life. (Until recently it was called Asperger’s after a Nazi-Eugenicist).
I was also diagnosed as ADHD mixed type, suspected Dysgraphia, and Rejection sensitive dysphoria.
It’s been almost a month and I’m still processing what it means. Currently, I’m relieved to be able to look back at times where I thought I was broken and understand that I wasn’t. So much of my life makes more sense now that I know.
The more I learn about Autism and ADHD, the more I feel better about myself. I’ve spent so long being told I was lazy, unreasonable, not applying myself, melodramatic, picky, annoying, or just weird. Over forty years of being told things like that, it starts to become part of your own inner monologue. My whole life, I’d wonder why certain things were so hard for me and those were the only answers. Now I have a better one, and I need to start being kinder to myself.
It’s a disability, and I’m starting to understand how it affects me and my life.
The big take away, for now, is understanding that I’m not broken but I am disabled.
Feel free to ask me any questions.
Stay safe and be kind,
Éric
